Facts about Gujarat

The quick facts on Gujarat include information on its location, climate, density of population and so on. This page gives a brief about some of the quick facts on Gujarat.

Quick Facts on Gujarat Location: Western coast of the Indian Peninsula. It borders Pakistan and Rajasthan in the north-east, Madhya Pradesh in the east, Maharashtra and the Union territories of Diu, Daman, Dadra, and Nagar Haveli in the south.

Latitudinal Location: 23.00 N
Longitudinal Location: 72.00 E

Quick Facts on Gujarat Total Area: 1,96,027 square kilometers

Quick Facts on Gujarat Urbanization: The urban population in Gujarat was 34.5% in 1991. It is estimated to grow by 44.46% by 2021.

Quick Facts on Gujarat Climatic conditions: Situated on the Tropic of Cancer, Gujarat falls in the sub-tropical climatic zone and has a varied climate.

Quick Facts on Gujarat Seasons: The different seasons of the year are monsoon (June to October), winter (November to February) and summer (March to June). The temperature varies between 80 °C to 450 °C.

Quick Facts about Gujarat Fairs and Festivals: Navratri is the most popular festival of the year, which celebrates harvest time.

Quick Facts about How to Reach Gujarat: Gujarat has ten domestic airports and an international airport at Ahmedabad. Most of the domestic airlines operate out of Ahmedabad and connect it to rest of India.

Language Spoken

Gujarati is the native language of the west Indian state of Gujarat. There are three colloquial languages of Gujarat-Gujarati, Urdu and Sindhi.

The Gujarati language is an Indo-Aryan language. The Gujarati language is part of the greater Indo-European language family. The Gujarati language is descended from the Sanskrit language.

The origin of Gujarati language in tangible form was first detected in a manuscript which was supposedly written in 1592. The first commercial appearance was in a printed 1797 advertisement.

In the 19th Century, the Gujarati language was primarily used for commercial correspondence like writing letters and keeping business accounts.

The Gujarati language have certain unique features:

Gujarati script was primarily known as a business person's preferred lingo- saraphi (banker's), vanijasai's (merchant's) and mahajani ( trader's) script.

Gujarati language is a syllabic alphabet in that consonants have a syllabic vowel.

The vowels of the Gujarati language can be written as independent letters, or by employing a variety of diacritical marks that are written above, below, before or after the consonant they belong.

As with all languages, the Gujarati language comes in numerous regional dialects which differs in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Some dialects are influenced by west Asian languages while others are influenced by European languages like English and Portuguese.

The Gujarati language is a left branching language. Adjectives are used before nouns; direct objects precede verbs and there are postpositions. The word order of the Gujarati language is SOV and there are three genders and two numbers.

Some common phrases are translated for your benefit:

hello: Namaste

Yes: Ha

No: Na

Fig: Anjeer

Area

The total area of Gujarat covers forest land, cultivation area, degraded land under plantation crops, mining industrial wastelands and degraded pastures or grazing land. The area that comes under the above categories in the different districts of Gujarat is given below.

Total Area: 1,96,027 square kilometer

Area Break - Up of Different Districts (in square kilometer):

Ahmedabad:

Area: 8707

Notified Forest Land: 0.83

Shifting Cultivation Area: 0.00

Mining Industrial Wastelands: 0.00

Degraded Pastures/ Grazing Land: 53.01

Gandhinagar:

Notified Forest Land: 0.00

Shifting Cultivation Area: 0.00

Mining Industrial Wastelands: 0.00

Degraded Pastures/ Grazing Land: 1.64

Mahesana:

Area: 9046

Notified Forest Land: 0.00

Shifting Cultivation Area: 0.00

Mining Industrial Wastelands: 0.00

Degraded Pastures/ Grazing Land: 90.06

Sabarkantha:

Area: 7390

Notified Forest Land: 431.54

Shifting Cultivation Area: 0.00

Degraded Land Under Plantation Crops: 2.48

Mining Industrial Wastelands: 0.00

Degraded Pastures/ Grazing Land: 2.16

Bhavnagar:

Area: 11155

Notified Forest Land: 33.56

Shifting Cultivation Area: 0

Mining Industrial Wastelands: 0

Degraded Pastures/ Grazing Land: 8.41

Surendranagar:

Area: 10489

Notified Forest Land: 55.72

Shifting Cultivation Area: 0

Mining Industrial Wastelands: 82.28

Degraded Pastures/ Grazing Land: 2.49

Amreli:

Area: 6760

Notified Forest Land: 72.94

Shifting Cultivation Area: 0

Mining Industrial Wastelands: 6.44

Degraded Pastures/ Grazing Land: 0

Rajkot:

Area: 11203

Notified Forest Land: 100.30

Shifting Cultivation Area: 0

Degraded Land Under Plantation Crops: 24.32

Mining Industrial Wastelands: 22.60

Degraded Pastures/ Grazing Land: 23.75

Jamnagar:

Area: 14125

Notified Forest Land: 35

Shifting Cultivation Area: 0

Mining Industrial Wastelands: 0

Degraded Pastures/ Grazing Land: 0

Junagadh:

Area: 10607

Notified Forest Land: 487.38

Shifting Cultivation Area: 0

Mining Industrial Wastelands: 0

Degraded Pastures/ Grazing Land: 0

Population

The population of Gujarat is 50,596,992 as per the census in the region. The date of the census is 2001. The number holds true on 1st March 2001.

The population of Gujarat is diverse. Hindus form the majority among the Gujarat state population. Muslims and Jains make up the minorities in the state.

The population statistics takes into account the entire population of Kachch District, Morvi, Maliya-Miyana and Wankaner talukas of Rajkot District. The number also includes the population of Jodiya taluka in Jamnagar District.

In terms of population, the Indian state of Gujarat holds 10th position among the States and Union Territories of the Republic of India.

The population growth in Gujarat state is higher than the national average. Gujarat has registered a population growth of 22.48% as compared to the national average of 21.34%. This number is relevant during the decade starting from 1991 and ending at 2001.

The sex ratio of the population of Gujarat state has worsened in that period. The number of females has come down to 921 from the 934 number recorded during the preceding census.

The literacy rate among the Gujarati population has improved. The literacy rate has increased to 69.97% from 61.57% recorded in the census conducted ten years ago.

The number of literates among the population of Gujarat according to the 2001 census stands at 29,050,019. The number of males in this list comes to 17,349,179. Females make up the rest-11,700,840.

The above literacy levels if expressed in percentages imply that among the total population in Gujarat, males comprise 76.47% of the literacy count. The percentage of literate females vis-a vis the female population of Gujarat comes to 55.61%.

Location

Gujarat is located on the western coast of the Indian Peninsula. It borders Pakistan and Rajasthan to the north-east, Madhya Pradesh to the east, Maharashtra and the Union territories of Diu, Daman, Dadra, and Nagar Haveli to the south.

Latitudinal Location: 23.00 N

Longitudinal Location: 72.00 E

Topography:

Physiological classifications:

Mainland Gujarat consists of the eastern rocky highlands [ 300 to 1000 meters], the extensions of the mountains of western India, and the western alluvial plains including the coastal plains [25 to 75 meter].

Saurashtra Peninsula is a rocky tableland [300-600 meter]. It is fringed by coastal plains.

Kachchh region consists of the Ranns, the Banni plains, the hilly region with the island belt of four rocky projections rising above the Rann, the Kachchh mainland, and the southern coastal plains.

Drainage system: The Arabian Sea and the Gulfs of Khambhat and Kachchh wash the shores of Gujarat. The location of a coastline of 1,659 kilometer is found in Gujarat.

The rivers Banas, Sabarmati, Mahi, Narmada, and Tapi are important rivers of Gujarat plain draining into the Gulf of Khambatt. The rivers Bhadar, Ojat and Shetrunji are important rivers of Kathiawar peninsula draining into the Arabian sea. A few seasonal and small rivers drain into the Gulf of Kachchh.

The Gulf of Kachchh, [7,350 sq km] is aligned in an east-west orientation. Its depth extends from less than 20 m at the head (eastern end) to about 60m at the mouth (western end).

The Gulf of Khambhat [3,120 sq km] is aligned in a north-south orientation.

The location of wetlands is found in the form of lakes, creeks, salt marshes, mudflats, estuaries, mangrove swamps, and swamps.